STOCKTON - Don Tinnell, 55, started having hearing problems the first time he fired off an artillery round from inside the enclosed space of a tank.

His two years in the U.S. Army included spending six weeks in Vietnam. The six subsequent years he spent in the U.S. Navy moving supplies took a toll on his body, particularly his back and spine, Tinnell said. He's receiving veterans benefits for partial disability now, but he didn't try to claim them for years.

"I learned a long time ago to cope with it. It's called: Grin and bear it," Tinnell said Friday during San Joaquin County's fourth Homeless Veterans Stand Down. The event's goal is to offer access to all of the services that could help put homeless veterans into housing or to help improve the lives of struggling veterans at risk of becoming homeless.

Tinnell is living in a motor home now but has spent time in Stockton's shelters. He hoped the services on hand Friday could help him find a place to live in a more stable environment, he said.

Organizers had 170 backpacks filled with goods to hand out to veterans. They had handed them all out and had moved on to replacements by about noon. In all, more than 200 veterans came, though it was unclear how many were homeless and how many were in transitional housing or at risk of becoming homeless.

The push from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide money for housing has been working, said those working with the homeless veterans at the Friday event.

"It's better now than it's ever been," said John Reynolds, director of the Stockton Shelter for the Homeless, which has eight separate slots funded by the VA for homeless veterans. There are fewer veterans living outdoors, and usually veterans in the shelter program are getting placed in housing within two months, he said at the Friday event. "There are more volunteers than veterans (at the Stand Down event), and that's the way it should be."

But any homeless veterans at all are too many, said Superior Court Judge Barbara Kronlund. "It's atrocious that this county and this country has such a thing as a homeless veteran."

Kronlund held a special session of Homeless Court at the event. The court helps clear up minor legal problems that could prevent people from obtaining driver's licenses or from landing jobs.

The event was meant to bring together a critical mass of services at the San Joaquin County WorkNet building in Stockton, ranging from those offered by federal and county government to nonprofit organizations, including help finding housing to assistance overcoming substance abuse.

Veterans were also shuttled between WorkNet and medical and dental care provided at the shelter and the Fr. Alan McCoy Dining Room. The Stand Down also put veterans in touch with people who could help them navigate the complicated benefit system exclusively for veterans.

"It's like a maze sometime," said Harold Butts, a Vietnam veteran and co-founder of Dignity's Alcove, which provides transitional housing for veterans in Stockton. Butts had collected enough forms Friday to fill the last few spots at Dignity's Alcove, which expanded with VA funding earlier this year.

Everything went smoothly at the Stand Down event, the county's fourth, said Jason LeBeouf, an organizer with nonprofit Veterans Stand Down San Joaquin, Inc. A lot of the same participants came back, and there were new adjustments, such as the addition of on-site kennels for veterans who brought their dogs.

The first county Stand Down event was in 2007; now it happens every other year. Even so, there were many veterans Friday coming for the first time, organizers and volunteers said.

"I'm surprised how many (veterans) don't know about the services," said volunteer Martin Padilla, 49, of Stockton.

"It's like they're the lost generation," he said. "And they're the ones that sacrificed for us."